Three Brits tortured by police in Dubai tell their story
Dubai's reputation as a holiday and business destination comes under scrutiny tomorrow, when a legal hearing for three Brits will hear them claim they were brutally tortured by police.
Grant Cameron, 25, and Karl Williams, 25, both from London, and Suneet Jeerh, 25, from Essex, will have their first hearing on drugs charges tomorrow, over seven months on from their first arrest.
Williams described how he was tortured in the desert and then in a hotel.
"I remember that the police put a towel on my face so I could not see," he said.
"They kept telling me I was going to die. I was so scared.
"Once I had been knocked to the ground, the police picked me up and put me on the bed. They pulled down my trousers, spread my legs and started to electrocute my testicles. It was unbelievably painful.
"Then they took off the towel and I could see that there was a gun pointed at my head. All I could think was that the gun in my face could go off if the policeman slipped, and it would kill me.
"I started to believe that I was going to die in that room."
The three men, who were arrested last July by police who claimed to have found a quantity of a synthetic cannabis known as 'spice' in their car, pleaded not guilty to the charges but they signed documents in Arabic – a language none of them understands – after the torture.
Reprieve lawyer Marc Calcutt, who wrote up draft witness statements from the men, said: "The Dubai authorities need to immediately drop the charges against the men and conduct an independent investigation into how these terrible events occurred.
"If they do not, I am sure this story will linger in people’s memories – particularly when it comes to booking their holidays."
Dubai is a popular destination for holidaymakers and businesspeople but it is subject to persistent complaints about human rights, not least in the case of the 250,000 foreign labourers in the city who live in conditions described by Human Rights Watch as being "less than human".
